London - Online retailer Amazon.com is in talks with a number of Dutch publishers to sell e-books in the Netherlands, the Financial Times reports.
"Within the book trade it has been a recurring message that Amazon might enter the market. But now Amazon has actually been in touch and so we are getting close," the report quoted Sander Knol, the director of Xander, a Dutch publisher that has been approached by Amazon. [http://on.ft.com/ZcbUeq].
Amazon has dedicated websites for only roughly a dozen countries. Amazon.nl, for example, redirects to Amazon's UK website, which delivers to the Netherlands.
Although the Netherlands does not allow print books to be sold below their cover price, posing a problem for Amazon that regularly sells books at discounts, there is no cap on how retailers can price e-books, the report said.
Amazon had delayed delivery of some Hachette Book Group titles earlier this year, in connection with a dispute with the French publisher over the pricing of e-books.